t newsletter / full program o - advanced transit · pdf fileorganizers: sponsors and...

Newsletter / Full Program

________________________________________________________________

AUGUST

#3 2016

Organizers: Sponsors and cooperating organizations:

In this issue:

* Conference update * To Podcar or not to Podcar...* Easymile goes Finland* Volvo goes Pittsburg*Advanced Transit Association* Program update* Registration, Hotels & Venue

Only one week more! Over a hundred people are coming to the tenth Podcar City Conference, this time in Antwerp, Belgium. We look forward to hear about the latest developments in autonomous pub-lic transportation, innovation in design, tyicketing and payments, mo-bility as a service and not least how to plan and prepare for a true sus-tainable city using zero carbon vehicles for all transportation needs.

Hotel Update

The Conference hotel is fully booked. For rooms please go to hotels.com for alternatives in Antwerp Sep 19-21.

Peter Van Laer, Managing Director, Crossroad, is pleased to be part of the Podcar City Conference. “The initiative fits perfectly with our knowledge and experience on mobility services. Our public trans-port experts will be present to share their knowledge on new ways of moving people, both during the Conference as in support of the Design Challenge.”

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To Podcar or Not To Podcar? ...


Author: Rod Diridon, Sr., Emeritus Executive Director, Mineta Transportation Institute

Rail systems’ expansion, even high speed rail in California, has begun toexplode in North America and it is critical that the cities to be served find the optimum feeder systems. The challenge is to transport the intercity passenger from these central terminals to employment, government buildings, event venues, airports, universities, and other major trip generators. If unused rail corridors or other right of ways (ROW) exist, and the demand is heavy, the choice might easily focus on light rail but that is often not the case. Rather, restricted access and lack of available ROWs around the stations pose a major challenge. Automated Transit Networks (ATN) including the unique subset described as Podcars, might be the answer in those crowded metropolitan centers.

Podcars suspended from a ridged guideway create a stable ride, transporting up to six passengers per car running approximately 60-seconds apart. These can be dispatched to individual stops along the guideway by the computer con-trols at the boarding location or in the cars. Automatic skip-stop dispatching allows cars to pass those stopped in board-ing areas. This electrically powered system is automated, driverless (though with real-time camera surveillance) and requires minimal maintenance so, once built, are quite economical and safe. Most significantly for urban planners, the system can be suspended over current boulevards on relatively light, median-strip anchored pilings instead of requiring a new ROW. The concept of ATN has been around since the 1950s, but presently only a limited number of installations exist around the world that embody the full set of operational features. These are in Morgantown WV USA; Heathrow Airport, London; Masdar City, Abu Dhabi; Rotterdam, Netherlands; and Suncheon Bay, South Korea.

Image: The Spartan Superway (SMSSV)team in San Jose demonstrating an elevated, suspended podcar vehicle powered by solar at the maker fair in San Francisco, 2015


Understanding that ATN’s are designed to reduce congestion, improve mobility, and reduce environmental impacts, San Jose State University’s (SJSU) Mine-ta Transportation Institute (MTI) has conducted several objective research studies on this technology and has co-sponsored international Podcar City Conferences since 2009.

MTI Research Associates Dr. Burford Furman and Mr. Ron Swenson, who lead SJSU’s Spar-tan Superway project, authored the MTI report titled “Automated Transit Networks (ATN): A Review of the State of the Industry and Prospects for the Futures” which explains ATN technology in the larger context of Automated Guideway Transit (AGT); looks at the cur-rent status of ATN suppliers and developers, and the prospects of a US-based ATN indus-try. In addition, the study summarizes proceedings from the Podcar City Conferences held between 2007 and 2013, and documents the U.S./Sweden Memorandum of Understand-ing on Sustainable Transport. Finally the study discusses how ATN might meet first and last mile needs of existing transit systems; explains the opportunities and challenges in plan-ning and funding ATN systems; considers ATN procurement concepts; and concludes with a summary of the challenges and opportunities for ATN technology. The study is intended to be an informative tool for planners, urban designers, and those involved in public poli-cy to provide a background on ATN to use for policy development and added research.

Major cities in California, including San Jose in the heart of the Silicon Valley, are seriously considering Podcar technology as a first and last mile alternative. Such technolo-gy will require a concept study, alternative analyses, environmental clearance (EIR/S), and pre-liminary engineering before the project can be bid and built. That eight to twelve year cycle of study and construction means that California is already late in preparing the feeder systems to handle the deluge of high-speed rail riders arriving in 2025. Now is the time for action and Podcar technology is one of the promising alternatives that should be considered as this new integrated, sustainable transportation system for California and the nation is implemented.

...That Is the Urgent Question!

Yes, it is true.

Uber will install 100 autonomous cars on the streets of Pittsburg for semi-public use (as taxis) this month. The XC90 is a large SUV with hybrid and all electric capa-bility, suitable for urban environ-ments with strong regulation on pollution. The project just started and we are excited to see how this will play out in the near future.


Easymile goes Finland....

In Finland, close to the Vantaa International Airport, the Easymile system recently installed a demo facility with their autonomous minibuses. This one of several examples of the fast expansion and inter-est in this technology where companies such as Easymile leads the new age of transportation. We are looking forward to hear and read more about this projects and other technology providers similar to this at the Podcar City Conference.

..and Volvo XC90 goes Pittsburg with Uber!

ATRA’s primary purpose is to leverage advanced transit to improve the quality of urban life. To do this, we need to understand advanced transit and what we mean by quality of urban life. Let’s examine both of these concepts.

Fundamentally advanced transit is the transportation of people (and goods) in a way that is superior to conventional transit. It seeks to improve transit by applying some, or all, of the following techniques:

* Using small vehicles accommodating people traveling to one, or very few, destination stations * Locating numerous stations on sidings (offline) so walking distances are short and vehicles not destined there can pass by without stopping * Running the vehicles on a network of dedicated guideways linking all stations and separated from pedestrians and other traffic thus enhancing safety and alleviating surface congestion

In order to achieve a reasonable capacity and level of service at a reasonable cost, based on the above techniques, an ad vanced transit system will typically have:

* Driverless computer control of vehicles * Short headways (time between vehicles) * Typically facilitated by onboard switching

Since there is no requirement to apply all of the above criteria, advanced transit can take many different forms. Indeed driv erless taxis may evolve to be a form of advanced transit. This leads us back to consider cars, transit and quality of life.

Some believe that automated taxis will remove the need for transit. However, history indicates that there is no one silver bullet. It is far more likely that automated taxis will attract some people from cars and some from conventional transit, and that advanced transit will do the same. Also, it is likely that automated taxis and advanced transit will both feed passengers to conventional transit.

In terms of quality of life, advanced transit has the possibility of enabling car-free communities where the surface is dedicat-ed to walking and biking and, instead of being paved, areas not used by buildings could be mostly vegetated. The price to be paid for this will be (hopefully aesthetic) overhead guideways accommodating numerous quiet and iconic small vehicles. Driverless cars, on the other hand, may increase urban sprawl, vehicle miles traveled and area of pavement, making walking and biking more difficult.

I know which future I would prefer.

If you are not already a member, please join ATRA. Membership is an opportunity for you and or your organization to contrib-ute to a better world by leveraging advanced transit to improve mobility and accessibility for all, while increasing safety and reducing energy use and pollution. ATRA membership works best for those that get involved and contribute.

Best regards,Peter J. Muller, P.E., President


Advanced Transit Association Part of Podcar City 2016


PROGRAM

The conference is divided into two tracks. Please see “Conference Track” first and after you will find “Auxiliary Tracks/Design Challenge”

Conference Track: Podcar City 10 Program

MONDAY SEP 19 (Arrival)

6.30 PM Networking Event: Ice Breaker Reception @ Town Hall Antwerp- Koen Kennis, Vice Mayor of Antwerp, ‘Welcome’

TUESDAY SEP 20 (Conference Day 1, University of Antwerp)

8 AM Registration

9 AM Welcome / Mobility in Antwerp- Ingrid Evers, Crossroad, ‘Conference Opening’- Koen Kennis, Vice Mayor of Antwerp, ‘Antwerp Mobility Roadmap’

9.40 AM Operational Podcar Systems, moderated by Ingmar Andreasson- Dennis Mica, 2getthere- Alban Brisby, Easymile, ‘Autonomous Vehicles for Last Mile Transportation’- Matthew Lesh, Local Motors- Andries Louw, Milotek, ‘The Futran System – Breeding The Paradigm Shift’

11 AM Coffee Break

11.15 AM Digital Payments, moderated by Ingrid EversDe Lijn is envisioning the use of digital payments to dramatically increase the user-friend-liness of public transport in Antwerp and Flanders. Transport users will be able to get on busses and trams just by tapping their contactless bankcard or smartphone. - Roger Kesteloot, VVM De Lijn- Andrew Slattery, Mastercard, ‘Transit – Smart Mobility’- Christel Marcelis, KBC Bank

12.15 PM Enabling Technologies, moderated by Fons De Mey- Serkan Arslan, Nvidia, ‘Enabling vehicles to See, Think, and Learn for Autonomous Trans portation and Driving’- Geert Vanbeveren, Siemens, ‘Intermodal Transportation as the basis for MaaS’- Richard Harris, Xerox, ‘Mobility as a Service – improved transportation’

1.15 PM Networking – Lunch at Venue

2.15 PM Podcar Project Developments, moderated by Magnus Hunhammar- David Watkins, Arup consultancy, ‘Making the case for innovative transport systems’- Johan Janse, JJAdvies, ‘Improving Accessibility of RTH-airport Through Integrating PRT in Passenger Handling’- Ingmar Andreasson, LogistikCentrum AB, ‘Synergies between driverless cars and ATN Systems’- Peter Muller, PRTConsulting Inc. / ATRA, ‘Nine Podcar Stories from the US’

Three of our Speakers

Mr Koen Kennis is Alderman (Deputy Mayor) in Antwerp and responsible for

transportion, finance and tourism. Mr Kennis is a member of the

Volksunie party.

Christel Marcellis is Head of Solu-tions and Sales Payments at KBC Bank and is also managing Prod-uct Management and Innovation

Payments in Belgium

Andrew Slattery is Co-Branding Manager, MasterCard Worldwide

and is addressing the topic on “Transit - Smart Mobility” at the

conference


3.35 PM Safety & Security, moderated by Ingrid Evers- Richard Koch, Ricardo Rail, ‘Safety Cases for Autonomous Transport Systems’- Karel Van Oudheusden, Aleotronic, ‘The long road from proof of concept to real-world autonomous driving’

4.15 PM Coffee Break

4.30 PM Panel Discussion – Politics-Legal-Technology, moderated by Marc Geenen- Philippe Muyters, Vlaamse Regering- Ann-Christin Larsson Frickner, Kompass / City of Upplands Väsby- Steven Thiré, Lige- Stefan Bergstrom, City of Sundbyberg- Aphram Melki, City of Järfälla

6 PM Networking – Pre-dinner Drinks

7 PM Conference Dinner- Speaker TBC

WEDNESDAY SEP 21 (Conference Day 2, University of Antwerp)

8 AM Registration

8.30 AM Sustainability / Energy / Climate, moderated by Christer Lindström- Ron Swenson, INIST, ‘Mitigating Climate Change with Solar Powered Transit’- Eric Rosenfeld, San José State University, ‘Solar Power Installation for an Automated Transit Network’- Burford Furman, San José State University, ‘Spartan Superway - Development Update’- Jörg Schweizer, Univ. of Bologna, ‘How can PRT achieve higher capacities at lower costs? A concept comparison’

9.40 AM Urban Impact of Automated Transit Networks, moderated by Johan Janse- Arthur Scheltes , Goudappel Coffeng, ‘How automatic vehicles can contribute to the liveability of an area’- Shannon McDonald, Southern Illinois University, ‘Rouse, New Town Columbia MD and Pod Car Design’- Lieselot Vanhaverbeke, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, ‘SELFCAR: ScEnarios for mobiLity in Flemish Cities with Automated dRiving’

10.40 AM Coffee Break

11 AM Multimodality, moderated by Matthew Lesh- Surya Ramkumar, McKinsey & Company, ‘Integrated Perspective On Mobility Trends’- Hilde Adams, VIM / BAAV, ‘Office on wheels’- Gary Hsueh, Arup consultancy- Chris Coeck, Port of Antwerp

12.20 PM Networking – Lunch


Ann-Christin Frickner Larsson is the head of the legue of Gov-

ernments association “Kompass” focusing on new modes of trans-

portation for cities in Sweden. She is also an elected official

and member of the center party, Sweden

Gary Hsueh is a Senior Transporta-tion Planner for Arup. His focus is

on the intersection of multi-modal transportation and technology. Gary has more than 13 years of

experience working in transporta-tion and land use planning across

a range of scales and modes.

Joerg Schweizer has special competences in the field of

Sustainable Transportation and in particular in micro-simulation

techniques of bicycles and innova-tive public transport systems such

as Personal Rapid Transit (PRT).

2 PM City of Things, moderated by Peter Hellinckx- Pieter Ballon, IMEC / iMinds- Jérôme Lefebvre, Addax Motors, ‘Electric light commercial vehicles’- Michael Behrisch, DLR (German Space Agency), ‘Planning Automated Self Driving Vehi cles ‘- Jorik Rombouts, Rombit, ‘Harbour of Things’- Bernhard Mueller-Bessler, Promotives, ‘Digital Maps / Central or distributed intelligence in routing’

3.40 PM Coffee Break

4 PM Simulation / Modeling / Optimization, moderated by Jorg Schweizer- Christer Lindström, 4Dialog, ‘Gamification for Autonomous Vehicles and Station Design’- Nathan Koren, Podaris, ‘Innovation and collaboration: Why innovative transport needs better planning and design’- Eugene Nishinaga, Transit Control Solutions, ‘A Control Solution Suitable for Large Scale ATN Applications’- Waldemar Grabski, Warsaw University of Technology, ‘Eco-Mobility and Empty Vehicle Management’

5.20 PM Closing- Winning Design Challenge Team, ‘Prototype Pitch’- Walter Kulyk, Formerly US DoT, ‘Conclusions’

5.45 – 6.45 PM Networking – Closing Reception

Auxiliary Tracks: Rivium Park Shuttle Visit Program

MONDAY SEP 19 (Optional Visit Rivium Shuttle, Rotterdam)

10 AM Registration

10.30 AM Transport – Bustrip Antwerp – Rotterdam

12 PM Networking – Lunch from LunchBox

1 PM Session on Rivium Shuttle @ Rivium World- Dick van Sluis, Vice Mayor Capelle aan den Ijssel, ‘Lessons Learned from the perspective of the city’- Peter Krumm, Connexxion, ‘Lessons Learned from the perspective of the operator’- Carel van Helsdingen, 2getthere, ‘Lessons Learned from the perspective of the supplier’

2 – 3.30 PM Visit: Rivium Shuttle

4 – 5.30 PM Transport – Bustrip Rotterdam – Antwerp


Prof. Dr. Lieselot Van Haver-beke is Assistant Professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, at the

department of Business Technolo-gy and Operations (BUTO) and the research group Mobility, Logistics

and Automotive Technology (MOBI).

Michael Berisch is researcher at the German Space Agency (DLR) and is working on A Hybrid Ap-

proach to Large Scale Simulation Based Traffic Assignment.

Dick van Sluis is vice Mayor of Capelle aan den IJssel and has been involved in the planning

and execution of creating a more sustainable city in the

Netherlands


Auxiliary Tracks: Podcar City Design Challenge Program

TUESDAY SEP 20 (Design Challenge Day 1, University of Antwerp)

8 AM Registration

9 AM Welcome / Mobility in Antwerp [Merged with Conference Track session]

10 AM Discover – Introduction to the Design Challenge, moderated by David Suijkerbuijk- Chris Coeck, Port of Antwerp- Onno Pruis, Movin, ‘Opportunities for POD – it all starts with a vision!’- Fons De Mey, Crossroad, ‘Smart Mobility - What Does Belgium Have To Offer’

11.30 AM Dream – The Future of Mobility in Antwerp

12:30 PM Lunch1 PM Design – Building Prototypes, pt. 16 PM Networking – Pre-dinner Drinks Poster Pitch

WEDNESDAY SEP 21 (Design Challenge Day 2, University of Antwerp)

8 AM Breakfast

9 AM Design – Building Prototypes, pt. 2

12 PM Lunch

12.45 PM Destiny – Jury Presentations

5.15 PM Closing [Merged with Conference Track session]

5.45 – 6.45 PM Networking – Closing Reception [Merged with Conference Track session]

Three of our speakers

Mr Geert Vanbeveren is Head of Sales and Business Develop-

ment for Innovative Technologies at Siemens AG, Mobility Manage-ment and has previously worked

with smart grid applications.

Carel Van Helsdingen is the CEO and founder of 2Getthere and will discuss “Lessons learned from

the perspective of the supplier”

Nathan Koren is the CEO of Podaris, UK and is specializing in

design and planning of innovative transportation systems for better collaboration and understanding.


TRAVEL INFORMATION

Conference Venue September 20-21Lange Winkelstraat 40 in AntwerpParking in the vicinity of the conference venue:- Antwerp Shopping – Molenbergstraat 7 in Antwerp;- Sint-Jacob – Sint-Jacobsmarkt 81–83 in Antwerp.

The conference venue itself has no parking. Paid parking on the street is also possible.

CITY HALL (Ice breaker reception on 19 September 18h30)Address: Grote Markt 1, 2000 Antwerpen.Parking in the vicinity of the City Hall:- Grote markt, Ernest Van Dijckkaai 3.

CONFERENCE HOTELLange Kievitstraat 125 in AntwerpParking in the vicinity of the conference hotel:- Antwerpen Centraal, Van Immerseelstraat 2.

For public transport, we refer to the website of De Lijn, the public transport operator in Flanders:

www.delijn.be

CONFERENCE VENUE AND

REGISTRATION

The conference will be held September 19-21 2016 at the University of Antwerp. Register at podcarcity.org____________________________

OFFICIAL CONFERENCE HOTEL

The Hotel for the conference is Hotel Lind-ner. To order a room with discount you email to

[email protected]

and in the email refer to

* Block ID. nr. 8417210 and code ‘PCC10’;* First and last name;* Check-in and check-out date;* Credit card details (card number and expiration date) to guarantee the reservation.

Every guest will get an individual mail as confirmation.The rooms will be held for us until 15 August. After that date, the rooms will be free again. Reservation after 15 August is still possible, but on availability.

€110 Single, €145 Double + €2,39 tax/pp/nWifi & Breakfast includedElectric charging available at parking Parking is €18/day

REGISTER NOW!GO TO WWW.PODCARCITY.ORG/ANTWERP


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